Madhya Pradesh polls: Modi, Shah bought MLAs, stole government, says Rahul Gandhi

A day before the campaign for the Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh comes to an end, on 14 November, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi launched a stinging attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah, accusing them of "purchasing" MLAs and “stealing” the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh.

Referring to the defection of 22 MLAs from the Indian National Congress ot the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2020, which led to the fall of the Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh, Gandhi alleged that the voice of the masses was "crushed" by the BJP.

In the 2018 Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, the Congress had emerged as the single largest party, with a tally of 114 seats. The BJP had won 109 seats.

However, 15 months after Kamal Nath became the chief minister, the Congress government collapsed due to a 'rebellion' led by Jyotiraditya Scindia. As he and other Congress MLAs joined the BJP, the latter was able to form a government for the third time in the state, under Shivraj Singh Chouhan's leadership.

"Five years back, all of you elected the Congress party to the government. You did not elect BJP but the Congress party. After that, BJP leaders—Modi, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Amit Shah—purchased MLAs and stole the elected government of Madhya Pradesh," Rahul Gandhi said.

Saying that the Congress would "chase away" the BJP from Madhya Pradesh, Gandhi added, “In Karnataka, we chased them away; in Himachal Pradesh, we chased them away — but not with hatred. We opened mohabbat ki dukaan [shops of love] in nafrat ka bazaar [the market of hate]."

Claiming that "Congress party's storm is about to come in Madhya Pradesh", Gandhi concluded that "The people of Madhya Pradesh are going to give about 150 seats to the Congress Party."